After learning at the knee of engineer/producer Tom Dowd during Atlantic Records’ glory days, Grammy winning engineer Jimmy Douglass (affectionately known as “the Senator”) has gone on to become one of the most sought-after engineer/mixers in R&B, hip-hop, and rock. One of the few engineers who can cross genres with total ease and credibility, Jimmy has worked on records for artists as varied as Otis Redding, the Rolling Stones, Foreigner, Hall & Oates, Roxy Music, Rob Thomas, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, the Roots, Ludacris, Timbaland, and Missy Elliott. But having old-school roots doesn’t get in the way of Jimmy working in the modern world, as you’ll see.

One of Jimmy’s long-time clients is Justin Timberlake, and in this video you’ll see how he mixes JT’s vocals using a hybrid analog/digital signal chain, which he then mixes back to the DAW. I also interviewed Jimmy for my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, and you can read part of that interview here.